Hi Ontbirders, While birding with his Ottawa birding class, Bruce Di Labio, ( along with Lene Kollgard and Peter Campbell ) stopped in Cobden at first light this morning and identified a 1st winter FRANKLIN'S GULL. Manson Fleguel and myself went this afternoon to look for it and found it amongst many other gulls. While standing on the municipal dock on Muskrat Lake in Cobden, it was seen about 300 metres out and a little to the left this afternoon at 4 PM. This a first record for our Pembroke circle. We had just published a new checklist this week and already it's outdated!! We stand at 298 species.
This morning we held a field trip to Westmeath Provincial Park beach and saw some interesting species: 2 TUNDRA SWANS, 3 SNOW GEESE, hundreds of CANADA GEESE, several SHARP-TAILED SPARROWS, a sizable flock of flying AMERICAN PIPITS, a BALD EAGLE, 2 AMERICAN BITTERNS and some patrolling NORTHERN HARRIERS. Migrant sparrows, including DARK-EYED JUNCOS and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS, were also seen. Cobden is on Hwy 17 between Renfrew and Pembroke. The dock is just down the hill from the traffic lights. Westmeath Provincial Park is accessed via Sand Point Rd off County Rd 12. This is east of Pembroke. Walk east along the Ottawa River beach to enter the park. More later, Chris Michener Golden Lake, ON Region 26 Coordinator Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas http://www.birdsontario.org/atlas/atlasmain.html Pembroke Area Field Naturalists: http://www.renc.igs.net/~cmichener/pafn.index.html [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Chris) Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
